Rupert Murdoch Wants Facebook To Pay Publishers For News

Facebook should begin paying for the news it sources through the publishers, media mogul Rupert Murdoch said in a statement Monday. He said if Facebook is committed to portray accurate news in their forum then it should pay a "carriage fees," drawing parallels between the social media site and cable companies.

His statement comes in the wake of Facebook’s announcement to source news deemed to be accurate in its news feeds. The new strategy was to address criticism and ward off mounting pressure on the social media site to quell spurious content sourced from businesses and media.

In a post, Mark Zuckerberg had ealier vowed to make Facebook better in 2018. Referring to various complaints by the users regarding spread of misinformation, he said it was done to provide adequate balance between public posts and relevant news feeds. He also said Facebook was working on minimizing the news feeds to 4% from its previous 5% in a bid to prevent "crowding out the personal moments that lead us to connect more with each other."

“Based on this, we're making a major change to how we build Facebook. I'm changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions," he added.

The point is to reduce the spread of misinformation by leaving it to the users to deem if they trust the particular news feed.

"We considered asking outside experts, which would take the decision out of our hands but would likely not solve the objectivity problem. Or we could ask you — the community — and have your feedback determine the ranking," said Zuckerberg, BBC reported.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that social media does play a vital role in spreading spurious content by not gaging its accuracy.

Murdoch shared similar concerns in the statement and said, “Facebook and Google have popularized scurrilous news sources through algorithms that are profitable for these platforms but inherently unreliable. Recognition of a problem is one step on the pathway to cure, but the remedial measures that both companies have so far proposed are inadequate, commercially, socially and journalistically."

Murdoch, who also controls Fox News, added he was yet to see a proposal that “truly recognizes the investment in and the social value of professional journalism.”

Murdoch said he will hold Facebook accountable to its vow to quell inaccurate news and propaganda by closely following the shift in Facebook strategy. He expressed concerns over the "serious lack of transparency that should concern the publishers" in such powerful platforms.

He pointed out the credibility of publishers was enhanced through Facebook without being adequately compensated for their service.

Stressing the need for remuneration for publishers, Murdoch added, “Carriage payments would have a minor impact on Facebook’s profits but a major impact on the prospects for publishers and journalists.”